Ahh, you've found my 404 page, which means something went haywire. I suggest visiting my home page and starting again.

BUT, while you're here... What could be a better time to discuss custom 404 pages? You know, this is a detail of web design that so many developers ignore. But, there are many, many reasons NOT to ignore 404s. For example, 404s often mean that a site changed a link -- which is probably not a big deal, but it can mean that your site is losing a lot of good incoming link traffic.

For example, imagine if I wrote an article on Joomla development here in Portland, and it got picked up by a local paper. I'd certainly want all of that incoming traffic to see that article! But, if I changed the URL (say, during a restructuring), then all new incoming traffic (to the old URL) would see my boring 404 page (unless I customized it like I'm doing here). Not good, right?

Of course, the best solution for a former popular page is to redirect it to the new URL. So, if you're in the market for a new web site, and you already have some popular web pages, I strongly recommend that you talk to your web developer about your already-popular pages, and plan out an approach for retaining this important traffic. There are many ways of accomplishing this, from using special extensions to simply building specific redirects using a file called ".htaccess" This is a key issue, okay? So, if your web developer doesn't know about .htaccess, then you should tell him or her to learn about it!

Finally, here's a little tutorial on how to create your own custom 404 page (just like this one) using the Joomla CMS. It's a great page to bookmark if you're a Joomla developer!

Need a New Web Site? Pick Your Plan Now

Industry Web Site Best Practice Guides

We rarely hold back when it comes to sharing opinions about what works and what doesn't on various industry web sites. So, if you're interested in what we may think about YOUR industry, and what makes for a great web site in that niche, see if we've covered your specialty below. And, if not, let us know and maybe we'll devote a post to it!

Knowledge Silos and Intranets

Achieving Proposal Success

While formal proposals are commonplace in the business world, how many have you seen? How do you know where the bar is in terms of what you're up against? How well do your company's proposals measure up against your competition? How might your success rate be improved by making improvements to your proposals? Interested in gaining the opinion of someone who's done 700+ B2B proposals?

CMSs? OMG!

Design Themes for CMSs

What are web site themes? Can you use them? Should you use them? This article gives an explanation of what themes are and why you might want to use one (or not use one). This is a great first article to read if you're thinking about getting a completely new web site, or even your very first web site!

Professional web development, Joomla! development, traditional marketing, and business development services.
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Web Development and Marketing Services

Web Site DevelopmentWe specialize in developing serious web sites and intranet systems for businesses. Our #1 tool for this is the Joomla! platform, as only the #1 CMS for business will do for our clients! Learn more!

Web Application DevelopmentOnce you have a web site, there's often more that you want to do with it -- specialized functionality that is 100% customized for your business. In addition to being designers, we're also deeply experienced in online application development. Learn more!

Billing Info

People often ask: "How does Marketing Portland handle billing?" We bill clients 2x/mo, but only if work was requested & performed during the period. We use Freshbooks, a cloud-based accounting system. If you run a services company that sends out invoices, check out Freshbooks. Here's a referral link (click the image) ... great stuff that helps companies stay efficient!